IKEA Norberg Standing Desk
A couple of weeks ago my wife and I made our first-ever trip to IKEA. Our shopping list included the parts needed to build a Standest 2200. I’ve been wanting to hop on the standing desk train for some time now and $22 seemed like a reasonable price for a trial run.
Right before the trip I ran across this post from Ben Brooks about his Norberg standing desk. His conclusion:
Overall: cheap, ugly, but perfectly useable.
I was intrigued.
As it turned out, the wall-mounted drop-leaf table checked all of my standing desk boxes:
- Inexpensive. At $39, it’s more expensive that the Standesk 2200, but only slightly.
- Compact. I don’t have a ton of room to work with in my office and my sitting desk isn’t going anywhere in the foreseeable future. A standing desk must either sit on my existing desk or be small enough to fit in my current office setup.
- Convertable. Here’s where the Norberg shined. I need to be able to sit and stand in my office. Sure, I’ll stand while I’m working on my computer, but I won’t be holding standing counseling appointments. The Standesk 2200 satisfies this requirement, but just barely. The process of transitioning between a standing and sitting setup wouldn’t exactly be smooth and seamless. The wall-mounted option, on the other hand, promised a quick transition from standing to sitting without any work at all.
- Tasteful. I’m game for “hacking” together a standing desk solution, but let’s keep this reasonable. The less tacky, the better.
So, after much thought and deliberation, we left IKEA with a Norberg.
Size
I’ve since installed the desk and I’m really liking it. The size is sufficient, especially since it isn’t the only desk in my office. If it served as my only workspace then it would probably feel a bit cramped. It also folds down and stays out of my way when I’m not using it. Bonus.
It’s worth mentioning that IKEA has two additional wall-mounted drop-leaf tables: Norbo ($39) and Bjursta ($39.99). They are wider and have better color options but they didn’t offer quite as much depth.
Sturdiness
I had concerns about sturdiness and stability, but so far it’s holding up just fine. Instead of trying to hit studs, I have it attached to a whiteboard which has a wood backing that provides extra strength.
I’d sleep better at night if it came with beefier hardware, but this’ll have to do.
Conclusion
If I had it to do all over again, I would make the same decision to go with the Norberg. If you’re looking for an inexpensive standing desk solution and have some wall space to spare, then it might be a good fit for you as well.